It was another normal day in Toriel's temporary base of operation (Erhard's house) they were all having breakfast before Toriel stood up from her chair and prepared to announce something to the group
"I have a announcement to make, I accepted a quest to help against a monster in a village close by, I don't think I will be able to return in a day since its very far away compared to my usual travels, and as such, Mister Erhard I would greatly appreciate if you looked after these two, since I'm asking so much from you, I'm willing to pay for you to-"
"no need! we will come along with you mom!" Rifana said excited, ready to join her hero and now mother figure into battle
"Rifana dear, I am going to be fighting a monster or a infestation of them, I can't allow you to come" Toriel responded gently but in a firm tone
"but we can help! we both have being training with mister Erhard to combat creatures and stuff" Rifana said as she moved closer to raphtalia and put her arm around her
"it was her idea" Raphtalia said as she was preparing herself to the scolding they were about to receive
"what?!" Toriel screamed out in shock, turning to face Erhard with both a surprised and angry face
"I'm sorry is just... she did something with her eyes and it became impossible for me to say no" Erhard said as he scratched the back of his head, Toriel took in a deep breath as she understood now how that happened
"sigh... it's okay, I know what you are referring to, since you're not a parent, you didn't have any resistance to their begging eyes" Toriel said as she put a hand to her face, she very much knew how powerful a child's manipulative charm could be
"still, you two can't come, it's dangerous" Toriel said as she turned back to face the two girls
"but mom! you need help! you can't fight all alone, and we just really need to go outside and stretch our legs, please?" Rifana tried her best to convince Toriel but she was having none of it, she was never going to allow any kid under her protection to get into a fight
"hate to say this, but you gonna have to let your two children out of the nest for them to grow" Erhard said, as much as he would want the two girls to never need to fight in their lives after suffering as slaves, he knew that their lives would be a constant fight in this country, eventually it will come a time were they are going to be in a fight and the best thing for when that happens is for the two to be prepared
"I know that, but I can't allow myself to take children to battle, I'm not a lunatic" Toriel said as she wasn't going to change her mind about this, she would protect this two even if it meant her death, she was tired of failing to protect others and she wouldn't let it happen again this time
"please? we can go and show how good we fight" Rifana keep insisting on going along with her, she knew that as the shield hero, her surrogate mother would be more powerful than the rest, but Rifana knew that the shield hero was more powerful when with a companion or with a team, the shield was a defensive force, so it needed a offensive force to fight for it while in turn protecting it from harm. Rifana knew that she was never going to fulfill her dream of marrying the shield hero, but now she saw that she could do something else, she could fight for her beloved hero turned mother, and she wouldn't give up on this new dream
"...you could take us and leave us to wait for you in a inn or establishment" Raphtalia suggested timidly, as much as she hated to admit, she did wanted to help miss Toriel in any capacity after all that she did to help her and her best friend. she didn't like the idea of fighting monsters... and yet she trained with Rifana and mister Erhard everyday without fault, she could easily say no and just not participate, but a part of her wanted to train, to get stronger, more brave, to be able to protect what was important to her, and what was important to her now was her best friend and the shield hero, and if Toriel was going to fight and Rifana too, she was going to do the same no matter how scared she was
"you too raphtalia? ugh..." Toriel groaned as she thought about it, she really did not like the idea, but at this point what she could do? she could try to lock them in their room but then she would just be acting like those slavers who took the girls liberty away, plus, she did try that before, seven times back in the ruins and in the seven, it failed and just brought more grief to her
"fine... I will take you two to a trip, but you will not join me on the quest" Toriel declared in defeat, she would allow them to accompany her, but not fight
"yay! I'm going to grab my axe" Rifana said as she jumped out and ran into the weapons shop
"you gave her a axe?!" Toriel screamed out again at Erhard who just awkwardly laughed and scratched the back of his head while avoiding eye contact
Over the next 2 days they traveled to Lute village, Toriel was still very reluctant on taking Raphtalia and Rifana with her on a quest like this one as it was more dangerous than what she normally took
The first thing she did upon entering lute was to ask about the so called monster infestation in the mine for more detail, a merchant she found explained there was a mine just south of town that was currently not in use. Apparently, some monsters had moved in to the cave, whether from the wave or displaced monster as a result. it brought out a small feeling of nostalgia to toriel, monster moving to the insides of a cave in the mountains because of dangerous forces? all too familiar to her
Despite her misgivings, Rifana was excited to explore the mine. Toriel was interested in helping the village but she was excited to see if there would be plenty of shields and coin to be had "If I clear the monsters out of the mine, would I be paid by who exactly?" She was told she would have to talk to the local lord on how much, but the man sounded sure there would be a reward.
After an intense talk to a cornered lord, Toriel agreed with a payment of 70 silver for clearing the mine mostly because Rifana wanted the man to pay about triple of what was first ordered in the quest. Raphtalia did her best not to judge her best friend while Toriel asked the lord to forgive Rifana's attitude
Toriel asked around if anyone could look out for the pair and only the blacksmith accepted, although begrudgingly, after saying a temporary goodbye she went off to the cave
Before she even entered the cave however, Toriel decided to absorb some of the material laying around like a pickaxe, some coal left in a minecart, the minecart itself, some rope and she even considered the door of the building itself but felt it was too much.
[Mining Shield LV 1 unlocked]
[Ability Mining: locate valuable minerals within 10 feet of you plus 1 foot per level you possess]
[Fuel Tank Shield LV 1 unlocked]
[equip bonus 1 mp, 1 sp]
[Ability Extra Fuel: The first cost of MP or SP each day is 0.]
[Rope Shield LV 1 unlocked]
[Ability Air Strike Shield: Manifest a direction barrier with your def and mdef.]
[Unique Ability Hook: Grab onto something within 5 meters]
[Lock Shield LV 1 unlocked]
[equip bonus 1 mdef]
[Ability Lock Down: After blocking a spell or ability, make the spell or ability unable to be used for 1 minute plus 1 second for each level you possess.]
"If feel bad for doing this... Maybe I should have asked the lord before I got here? Hmm..." Toriel sighs before grabbing a second pickaxe and going into the mines. Toriel decided use a method of gathering materials as where she would locate mineral with [Mining] switch to use [Collection] and store all minerals in her [inventory]. This method was a little slow, but gave the most results.
Toriel got a bit deeper where the light of the opening wasn't of much help, she sees the extinguished torches in the walls and decides to lit them up. with a snap of her finger two fireballs formed in front of her and with a simple wave of her hand the two went in the direction of the torches and put their fire back on, afterwards they went from torch to torch until all were illuminating the cave
"Wow! that was impressive mom" a voice called out from behind her
"Eh?" Toriel turned around shocked to see Rifana and Raphtalia behind her, Rifana was with a very impressed expression while holding tightly to Raphtalia's hand, who was avoiding to make eye contact with the goat lady
"What are you two doing her!? I told you to stay in the blacksmith!" Toriel screamed out as she kneeled down and put her hands in Rifana's shoulders, seeing if she was well and with any injuries whatsoever
"I-it was Rifana who wanted to! I tried to stop her but-"
"Hey! you could have stayed there if you wanted to, but I want to fight side by side with the shield hero!" Rifana argued as she was now more confident in following her hero into battle since she had such cool control of fire
"Ugh... We will have a talk later Rifana, right now just stay behind me okay?" Toriel said as although she wanted to take the two out of the cave, they were already very deep to just go back without killing the monster inside this place
She turned corners with concern, shield raised in one hand, a fire ball in the other. No matter how deep they went in, they didn't see a single monster, instead of calming her, this was making her have a growing concern.
As they hit the back of the mine it opened up into a large natural cave. It had several large cliff faces and clear water at the bottom. It could be that the invading monsters already migrated elsewhere using natural exits... As she began to mine some more, Toriel heard a scream. It was the exact same scream she heard when Raphtalia had nightmares. She spun around to see a large 2 headed dog stampeding at Raphtalia and Rifana's direction.
"Get away beast!" she screamed out as she launched a fireball to get the attention of the two headed dog, who turned and began to charge at her, Toriel ran a bit before sliding down in between the creature, as her priority was to get to the girls before anything else
She ran to the two while switching to her [Rope Shield]. The dog was coming too fast for her to do anything else, but she grabbed the two girls and put them behind herself.
Toriel was terrified, not to herself but for the two girls. Rifana and Raphtalia had made amazing progress, but they were both level 10. But the thing was likely to be triple their level. Toriel was sure that she beat it in terms of physical defense, magical defense by a bit maybe. She may even have more health, but his attack stat could be truly a threat. With jaws that big... could the damned mutt tear off her arm? or worst... Bite one of the girls head out in a bite...
"Don't worry we can take it, right raphtalia?" Rifana asked her friend with confidence but when she looked for raphtalia she saw the other girl completely frozen, she knew Raphtalia wasn't the most courageous but she didn't expect that to be like this, the monster wasn't so different from the balloons or usapils... right?
Toriel immediately changed tactics. It's agility could be higher than her's which meant it would catch up to them very soon. She created hundreds of fireballs and lauched them at the dog, but it seemed unaffected by it or it simply did not care for any damage it received, it jumped at her but Toriel created a huge pillar of fire under the creature, she heard it screaming but in a few moments it bursted out of the flames more angrier than before
Toriel blocked with the shield but the second head moved to bite her neck, she was barely able to avoid it pushing the dog back with a larger fireball. She saw that facing this thing head on or at a distance seemed useless so she decided to flee, she grabbed both girls and leapt from a nearby cliff into the clear water, activating [Hook] to grab another cliff.
Raphtalia felt stuck in time. Again, she was being thrown into water from a cliff face. Again, a multi-headed dog beast stared holes through her.
Toriel struggled to pull Raphtalia, Rifana and herself from the water. Slowly pulling herself up the cliff face, Raphtalia was softly repeating herself "I'm sorry, I'm sorry". Toriel ignored it, finishing her climb and placing both Raphtalia and Rifana at her side.
Toriel caught her breath while checking to make sure the monster wasn't near. After that she turned to Raphtalia. "Are you alright? you froze from terror... you could have died there..." Toriel said as she tried to do her best to calm her down
Raphtalia wanted to cry, because she was right. She had done nothing. She had yet to help her do anything that she couldn't do on her own. "I-It was a dog monster, it was just like..." she tried to say but couldn't muster the words for it
"What is wrong with...Oh no..." Rifana realized why she froze in terror, the two headed dog had reminded her of that day... when the first wave happened.
"What's is the problem? is s-"
"A-a dog monster k-killed mama and papa..."
Toriel realized why she froze like that, why she had nightmares about her parents dying, she had tried to comfort her every time it had happened but Raphtalia never spoke what those nightmares were but now... She knew exactly what they were and she could relate to it as she lost her own children before... but the sentiment must be different in a few ways.
"Raphtalia... Im sorry for if I have been avoiding this, but... tell me everything. About what those nightmares are about... and how you and Rifana became slaves." Toriel asked as her she looked over the girl with kind but worried eyes, she had avoided this topic for too long, despite her feeling uncomfortable about it, she need to know so she could help the girl.
"We-" Rifana is stopped by Raphtalia, who puts a hand out and looks over to Rifana, the weasel girl nods and keeps herself quiet so that her friend could explain.
"I lived in a small village by the sea. It was mostly demi-humans, but there were some humans. Our lord, mister Seaetto was a human. The village was here, in Melromarc... and Melromarc doesn't treat us kindly at all, but in our village, we were fine and Lord Seaetto kept us safe... Then the wave happened." Small tears fell, but her voice stayed about the same. Toriel sat beside her as she continued with Rifana just staying by her friend's side
"Lord Seaetto came riding in to save us. He killed a lot of monsters, but there was so many and... He died, though I didn't see it. My mother and father took me and tried to flee... This demonic three-headed dog monster chased us to the cliff. My parents threw me into the ocean and I saw it" Raphtalia paused as she relived the event on ber head with sadden eyes
"Saw what?" Toriel automatically asked without thinking
"Saw it rip them to pieces... they were probably dead before I hit the water." Raphtalia said as her eyes seemed completely devoid of light, her tears stopped briefly but just due to how she had cried, Toriel couldn't imagine how it was like for her to see such horrific act in such young age
The three sat quietly for a moment before the raccoon girl continued, "Afterwards... We tried to rebuild. We wanted to show that we survived and could still be happy. About a week later knights from the capital showed up..." she said as she stared at the flowing river
"What good does it does to show up a week AFTER the wave? where they there to help you rebuild?" Toriel spoke, her outrage at the situation was growing more and more
"They were the ones that made us slaves..." Raphtalia said, which caused Toriel's eyes to widen in surprised and then anger
Toriel was enraged now. "T-those damned knights can enslave little girls, but couldn't kill a horrible creature a day's ride away from the capital!? How could the king allow this!?" she screamed out as she couldn't understand how all of this was even allowed to happen
"The king hates demi humans most likely, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't want to send knights to save our village" Rifana said as she stared down, cold and aggressive thoughts at the fact that what she assumed was probably right
Raphtalia kept silently weeping until Toriel took her into her arms. "Both of you are not slaves anymore, you two are in my care now." She held her until she stopped crying. They sat for a while more until Toriel spoke.
"Raphtalia. Rifana. I will make sure you two are going to live, alright?" Toriel said as Raphtalia gave an affirmed nod while Rifana had a determined look in her eyes "Then we're going to have to get past that thing... Here's the plan" she said as she began to whispered to the girls
Toriel wandered around the cave to locate the monster. As the Beast saw her it began to charge. Rifana threw 3 kitchen knives that had been slightly sharpened from behind Toriel. 1 missed, one hit the main body, one hit its mark, right on the head. It didn't seem to mind at all and kept charging. Toriel smirked, as she extended her arm outwards and created various fire balls around her before sending them to the monster "Army of Fire!" Rifana shouted which confused Toriel "I know it's not technically an ability, but I had to name it". The fireballs were released at the beast just as it came within 20 feet of them.
As they came close the fireballs created mouth's and took a apparency similar to a balloon as they began biting at the dog, they dealt little damage. But damage wasn't the goal though. The monster snapped at them in confusion and hate, extinguishing them with it's bites one by one. While this was happening, Raphtalia ran to the far left, behind a large rock with her shortsword drawn. Waiting, Toriel walked to the cliff and switched to her [Rope Shield]. she eyed her spare pickaxe firmly dug into the ground less than a foot away 'I hope this works...' a thought of doubt came to her for a moment but she dismissed it.
After the last Fire Balloons was extinguished, the monster was crazed. It charged at Toriel with killing intent. Its tunnel vision allowed Raphtalia to run at its side without worry and strike the same head again, only this time with her shortsword. The head slumped to the side dead as the other kept its attention on Toriel.
'Good. If it chose to go after Raphtalia instead, it'd have had to use [Air Strike Shield] and then try doing this from behind. This way is way easier.' The goat heroine thought as she prepared for the charging beast
Toriel used [Hook] to wrap around the neck of the remaining head, then dodged to the side. She watched as the beast could not stop its momentum and went off the cliff. Toriel clung to the pickaxe with all he had, as Raphtalia ran over and held her too. The goal was to snap the last one's neck, but that didn't happen. They misjudged the weight as the three were pulled down the cliff as well.
The beast was tired, down a head, small injuries all over and was struggling to find proper footing in the shallow water. Toriel was winded, low on Sp, and the weight of the dog had nearly dislocated her arm but she tried to keep herself from passing out. Rifana was weak as she had trouble raising her axe and the fall had cause her a damage. Raphtalia was down to just her short sword and was dizzy from the fall.
As all four stood up, there was a moment of quiet. As if it all slowed down for three and the dog
Toriel didn't look at Raphtalia or Rifana before saying "We're going to live" She ran in with Rifana going behind her and Raphtalia following soon. They were slowed by the water a bit, the dog however, did not charge. It waited for Toriel to get close enough and attempted to bite at her throat, she tried blocking it and tried to push it back, but it simply went off course a bit and tore into her shoulder. Just before she buckled from the weight, Raphtalia came in swinging wildly. Striking it 4 times, she kept slashing its stomach until it faltered and Rifana came with a bigger bloodlust than the beast itself as the small weasel girl swinged her axe down, cutting the head of the monster. As the head fell down Toriel was able to push the remaining body of the creature off of her.
[544 EXP]
Toriel was proud. Of both herself and of the two girls. She had a lot of tools at her disposal, but without Raphtalia or Rifana she couldn't have won against that creature. but she did worry about the two developing into murder machines, she would definitely try and keep them from getting a crave for violence
"Lady Toriel!" Raphtalia ran up to her and threw her arms around her with Rifana doing the same. It hurt a lot, but she let it happen as it also felt good. She was happy that she had not only saved them but that they were able to survive, she was scared and full of doubt before but now everything seemed more calm and she could finally let her mind rest
After some time, they collected parts from the dog. before leaving to get their reward and hopefully some rest.
[Two-Headed Black Dog Shield LV 1]
[equip bonus 2 atk]
[Ability Alertness: Aware of enemies within 30 feet plus 1 foot for each level you possess]
[Unique Ability Dog bite: Any enemy that comes within 5 feet of you is attacked by the 2 black dog heads]
[Light Metal Shield Lv 1]
[equip bonus 1 def, 1 mdef, 2 agi]
They exited the cave victorious, Rifana commemorated while Raphtalia helped Toriel walk as the goat lady was very tired from all the beating she had received. They confirmed to the lord that the monster had been slay and he happily payed them, even offered a room for them to stay the night over. It had been a tiresome day and the sun was setting so they happily took it, after feeding and putting the two girls to sleep, Toriel laid on her bed ready to fall on sleep and rest.
the next morning Toriel woke up early and went to the inn's kitchen, they let her cook out of thankfulness for solving the monster problem and she actually made breakfast for the staff as well, which they loved the taste of.
"Girls I made breakfast, hope you're hungry for..." Toriel stops her speech as she is paralyzed from what she sees
"Hi mom" the now slightly more mature voice of Rifana greeted, in the room, both Rifana and Raphtalia were now both magically grown up to at least their adolescence, Rifana looked completely fine with the situation, while Raphtalia looked much more embarrassed as she was covering her chest
"my goodness..." Toriel lets out as she fainted, falling on her back and dropping the breakfast plater she brought with her
[author's notes]
here it is at last! a new chapter of the motherly hero, with more to come!
this fanfic went on a break for a while as I was focusing on the superman fanfic, but I decided to give this one at least a couple more chapters before going back to writing for the man of steel (he should be back by next monthf everything goes as planned)
